Boeing has developed

a number of e-Enabled
solutions that help airlines
improve their performance
and enhance operational
efficiencies.

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Integrated IT for Improved
Airplane Support
By Robert Rencher,  Senior Systems Engineer, Associate Technical Fellow

Airlines throughout the world are expanding their use of information technology (IT)
within their maintenance, engineering, and flight operations organizations. The
use of IT to integrate airline systems is called “e-Enabling.” E-Enabling offers a number
of potential benefits, including greater efficiency and improved airline operations. Boeing
offers several e-Enabled tools and services, as well as the expertise and guidance to
help airlines implement and integrate e-Enabled systems.

As airlines continue to look for efficiencies in
every aspect of their operations, e-Enabling
is being implemented at an increasing
pace. A well-designed information systems
architecture is the foundation for an
e-Enabled airline. This systems architecture
enables the airline to efficiently implement
and maintain integrated business systems.
The results are a substantial improvement
in technical dispatch reliability and a reduc­
tion in maintenance and operations costs.
A key value is the integrated business
process flows and the availability of timely
information for improved decision support
and performance support.
E-Enabled IT systems can take many
forms, from replacing printed manuals and
other documents with electronic versions
to gathering and evaluating in-flight data
on the real-time flying condition of airplanes.
This article discusses the key elements
of an e-Enabled strategy, some of the
e-Enabled tools and services available
from Boeing, Boeing’s e-Enabled system
integration capabilities, and two method­
ologies for assessing airlines’ readiness
for e-Enabling.
Key elements of an e-Enabled
strategy
The e-Enabled environment creates
opportu­nities to establish new business
processes, many of which will become
operationally critical to the airline. As a
result, it is important to have an overall
strategy in place to guide e-Enabling
efforts. Boeing has identified these key
elements of any e-Enabled strategy:
n Define and support an enterprise
systems architecture as a method to
review and simplify business processes
prior to automation.

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 Figure 1: Elements of real-time visibility into airline operations
Operational efficiency requires system integration throughout an airline’s operations. The e-Enabled system environment integrates this real-time data with the
airline’s maintenance planning systems. The operation of Boeing airplanes creates real-time performance data that is directed to an airline’s maintenance
planning system and reliability system. This integration event enables just-in-time adjustments to planning, record management, and airline cost accounting
with the objective of maintaining an “as-flying” airplane configuration.

Maintenance “As-Flying”
Condition Configuration

Hours, Cycles,
Days, Defects

Maintenance
Records

Reliability Analysis Deferrals

Part Requisition Purchase Order

Repair Order Inventory

Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance

Program Plan Execution

Configuration,
Airworthiness
Directives,Service Work Documents
Bulletins,
Engineering Orders

Aviation Maintenance
Flying Plan Flight Schedule Cost Accounting
Technician Training/Skills

n  Materials Management n  Engineering

n  Records Management n  Finance
n  Reliability Program n  Task Management

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n Establish information management
practices to achieve higher levels of
system integration.
n Identify integration objectives for
organizational, process information,
and IT systems.
n Incorporate historical system use and
planning information to establish busi­
ness function baselines and to project
future system utilization.
n Deliver value through reduced operating
costs, higher efficiency and safety,
better airplane and fleet utilization, and
improved passenger experience.
n Integrate air and ground information
systems to achieve optimal operational
efficiency.
n Establish an IT infrastructure that
supports the operational objectives
of the airline.
e-Enabled tools and services
Boeing developed a number of e-Enabled
solutions that help airlines improve their
performance and enhance operational
efficiencies. Many of these solutions are
designed to help airlines achieve real-time
visibility into all of their operations, including
airplanes in flight (see fig. 1).
Maintenance Performance Toolbox. This
electronic performance support system
provides operators with up-to-date fleet
maintenance information using intelligent
documents and visual navigation methods.
It allows airline operators to stream­line the
WWW.boeing.com/co m m e rcia l / a e ro m a g a zine
management and distribution of technical
information, including just-in-time training
at the point of use. Toolbox is designed for
use by technical operations staff respon­
sible for airplane system trouble­shooting,
structural repair record management, parts
manage­ment, task card management,
content authoring, and train­ing. Toolbox
is an online subscription service delivered
via the Web portal MyBoeingFleet.com
and is built on an industry-standard Java 2
Platform, Enterprise Edition, architecture
to ensure maximum security, availability,
reliability, and scalability. (See “Mainte­
nance Performance Toolbox,” AERO
first-quarter 2007.)
Airplane Health Management (AHM). This
online decision support tool, accessible
via MyBoeingFleet.com, allows real-time
monitoring of airplanes during flight. When
faults occur, AHM presents the operator
with probable causes and recommended
actions, including fix effectiveness infor­
mation based on historical data for the
operator and the fleet. When an airplane
arrives at the gate, maintenance crews can
be ready with the parts and information to
quickly make any necessary repairs and
avoid costly delays, cancellations, or air
turn­backs. AHM also enables operators to
identify recurring faults and trends, allowing
airlines to proactively plan future mainte­
nance. (See “Remote Management of
Real-Time Airplane Data,” AERO third-
quarter 2007.)
Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). The EFB is a
general purpose computing platform on
the flight deck integrated with avionics and
communications. EFB software applications
calculate performance figures, display
charts, improve taxi positional awareness,
provide video flight deck entry surveillance,
and allow electronic access to documents.
It is designed to help airlines reduce costs,
improve taxiway and flight deck safety,
and establish convenient access to digital
documents. A software development kit
allows for the development of airline-
specific EFB applications. (See “Electronic
Flight Bag,” AERO second-quarter 2008.)
Electronic Log Book. This application,
which resides both on the airplane and
on multiple ground components, connects
the airplane systems to the airline IT infra­
struc­ture, providing data to the multiple
departments and allowing them to collab­
orate on resolving pilot reports. This
capability helps the airline schedule the
airplane operation so that reported faults
can be resolved during a time when the
airplane is available, reducing costs. It also
allows the implementation of airborne and
ground applications that will enable the
airline to operate more efficiently as a
business. (See “Electronic Flight Bag,”
AERO second-quarter 2008.)
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 E-Enabled IT systems can take many forms, from replacing
printed manuals and other documents with electronic
versions to gathering and evaluating in-flight data on the
real-time flying condition of airplanes.
e-Enabled system integration
capabilities
While e-Enabling offers airlines many
benefits, it also presents challenges in
terms of integrating the technology into
existing operations.
The e-Enabled environment includes
diverse system types, information sources,
data types, and different owners. The data
originates with different systems within the
airline’s operational areas, and it is shared
within the airline and with airline partners,
suppliers, and Boeing. The diversity in data
types and origins creates challenges for
integration, protection, and lifecycle man­
agement (see fig. 2). Figure 2 represents
a conceptual depiction of information
origination and utilization within the
e-Enabled information architecture.
Airplane information originates with
Boeing and the suppliers to Boeing.
The Boeing data domain is established
as the baseline data set using the
e-Enabled information architecture.
This baseline includes data from the
supplier data domain and design/
manufacturing data from the Boeing
data domain. As the airplane enters
service, the airline is provided this baseline
data set, which is included in the airline
customer data domain. The airplane
onboard data domain collects airplane
operational data for real-time processing
and analysis, and it is transmitted to the
customer data domain for opera­tional
analysis and planning. The maintenance,
repair, and overhaul (MRO) shop data
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domain includes the mainte­nance planning
data and a record of the maintenance work
performed. The MRO data is provided
n
to the airlines to be included in the airline
data domain. The e-Enabled information
architecture is designed to include data
from all data domains.
The information lifecycle facilitates the
management of data from airplane design,
through the airplane’s operational life to
final disposal of the airplane. Information
protec­tion ensures that proper information
n
access controls are defined, regulatory
require­ments for data retention are in place,
and license restrictions are being followed.
Information management provides the
guidelines for data stewardship, gover­
nance, and quality assurance.
e-Enabled system implementation
n
To determine an airline’s ability to add
e-Enabled capabilities to its operations, it is
important to examine the following five areas:
n Strategy Integration: Enterprise business
strategy is a vision and method to
achieve an important business objective.
Effective strategy is appropriate, clearly
defined, well communicated, and
regularly updated.
n Organization Integration: Organizational
integration is a means to streamline the
decision-making structure and functions
of the business units—reducing cost
and increasing value. Knowledge is
shared between organizations,
contributing to efficient, adaptive, and
timely decision making.
Process Integration: Business process
integration is the barometer for value-
added work. When business process
analysis and improvement activities
are guided by strategic principles from
the business function leaders, work
processes, tasks, and information
requirements mesh smoothly.
Information Integration: Information inte­
gration is the use of a smaller set of data,
information, and knowledge elements to
produce a result of much greater value.
A key measure is how efficiently informa­
tion is reused across business functions,
work processes, and technical systems:
the less redundancy and rework, the
higher the capability.
Systems Integration: This area focuses
on the capability of an airline’s IT team
to establish and manage systems.
“Systems” refers to the set of infor­
mation systems, applications, and data
that support the enterprise business
functions and work processes.
Boeing offers business process
lean analysis and design services that
facilitate improve­ment to these five
integration areas. These airline capability
level (ACL) pro­cess modeling reviews
may encom­pass airport ground,
schedule planning, flight operations,
operations control, facilities, supply
chain, logistics, maintenance and
engineering, and information technology.
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Figure 2: Overview of e-Enabled information architecture
One of the key challenges in an e-Enabled environment is integrating and
managing a variety of information from a number of diverse sources.

Onboard Domain airline Domain

Domain 1 l Domain 1 lll

Data generation supports Data generation supports
information need. information need.

Domain 2 l Domain 2 lll

Information Sharing Information Consumption

n Data n Supports Aircraft Power

n Content Module Function Within

n Loadable Software Airplane Part Business Process
n Software Boeing n Value to the User
Domain

Information Delivery
n Messaging
lllll MRO Domain
n Files

n Web
Information Domain 1 ll
Ownership
n Boeing

n Airline

n Maintenance,
Domain 2 ll
Repair and
Overhaul
(MRO) Shop Supplier Domain l

Information Lifecycle Information Protection Information Management

n Design n Access n Stewardship

n Active Use n Regulatory n Governance

n Retention-Disposal n License Restrictions n Quality Assurance

Information Ownership

l Airline A Data l Airline B Data

l MRO A Data l MRO B Data
l Supplier Data l Boeing Information
 Figure 3: Overview of ACL self-assessment
The ACL self-assessment can help an airline define goals and develop
a roadmap for e-Enabled capability improvement.

Never Often Always

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5
4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gather Results Analysis
3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

ACL Self-Assessment Tool Scoring Matrices

This survey instrument is designed for airline The scoring matrices represent the survey
executives and senior management. Rating results for airline function and enterprise dimension
questions and open-ended questions are used capability.
to collect survey responses.

Strategy
5

Capability Comparative Analysis Systems 2

Organization
The data enables a comparative analysis
1
of an airline’s enterprise capabilities
(strengths/weaknesses). An airline’s
goals for each dimension are represented
from the planning guide.

Information Process

To Airline To Boeing

Managed
Planning
Survey Business GoldCare ValSim
Guide
Solutions

A survey summary A series of short Boeing’s professional Boeing’s flexible set Airline collaboration
document provides exercises assists the services advise, of 787 Dreamliner solves problems by
airline respondents airline in establishing deploy, train, and support services. eliminating waste and
with a customized dimensional goals support operators and achieving operational
summary of their and developing plans their extended supply efficiency to attain
ACL survey results. to achieve those goals. chain in the evaluation full operational and
and implementation of financial value.
e-Enabled systems.

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By using the ACL self-assessment process and tool set,
an airline can define goals and establish a roadmap for
capability improvement, allowing it to translate IT availability
and performance into competitive advantage, increased
profits, and safety.
Airline Capability Level
Self‑Assessment
To assess their ability to use e-Enabled
products and information, airlines need
to benchmark their enterprise strategy,
process, and information integration
capability levels against those of industry
leaders. ACL process modeling reviews,
developed by Boeing, can help airlines in
this assess­ment. The reviews encompass
airport ground, schedule planning, flight
operations, operations control, facilities,
supply chain, logistics, maintenance,
engineering, and IT.
By using the ACL self-assessment
process and tool set, an airline can define
goals and establish a roadmap for
capability improvement, allowing it to
translate IT availability and performance
into competitive advantage, increased
profits, and safety (see fig. 3).
The ACL approach uses a survey, self-
administered by airline executives, and
applies the results through a series of
planning guide exercises to provide an
understanding of current and future
capability needs. The airline can use this
information to begin planning to resolve
gaps between its present capability level
and the level it would like to achieve.
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The results and conclusions provide the
starting point for a discussion of current
capability levels across the enterprise and
key airline functions.
E-Enabled business Systems
Assessment
Boeing offers optional e-Enabled Business
Systems Assessment services to prepare for
the implementation of e-Enabled prod­ucts
and services. This e-Enabled assessment
follows an airline’s participation in the ACL
survey. When assessing an airline’s ability
to add e-Enabled capabilities to its opera­
tions, Boeing will cooperatively examine:
Business Enterprise Architecture:
n
The airline’s business structure and
business methods in support of using
e-Enabled systems.
Rationalization of Business Systems
n
to Information Technology Systems:
The airline’s methods and process to
transform its business systems to IT
systems requirements.
Information System: The airline’s ability
n them take advantage of the benefits offered
to provide the required information
systems to achieve optimal use and
performance of the e-Enabled products.
n Airline Risk: The airline’s ability to identify
and prepare a plan to resolve business
operational deficiencies and IT systems
interruptions.
During the e-Enabled assessment,
Boeing’s airline and IT subject matter
experts visit airline facilities to evaluate
the airline’s business methods, systems
integration, technical infrastructure, and
IT performance capabilities.
The goal of the assessment is for the
airline to gain an understanding of its current
business systems and IT systems capabili­
ties, as well as the actions necessary to
prepare for and improve e-Enabled product
usage. With this knowledge, the airline can
develop and implement a plan to resolve
any issues in order to take full advantage
of e-Enabled products and services.
Summary
Boeing offers an industrywide perspective
on integration of IT systems, supplemented
with proven methodologies, to assist
airlines with IT strategy and goals to help
by e-Enabled services.
For more information, please contact
Robert Rencher at robert.j.rencher@
boeing.com. 
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